Blog-o-ramma

I heart paper posted a very interesting question in the forums of etsy the other day.

Is giving free products to bloggers a worth it?

I have never asked for a product because I feel like it's asking for a bribe. If I were a larger blog with lots of readers I would possibly buy some products to judge the quality of items, but right now I am just showing people who I find to be incredible talents, cute, interesting, or vastly under appreciated.

On that venue, here is something from "I love paper" that I have had on my hearts list for a long time, since I absolutely found it WONDERFUL, and if I had a kids birthday party, I would so get it!

School Vs Etsy

I've been quite busy with school lately. Three classes, several papers already, lots of reading, and lots of time in front of a computer.

The biggest problem I've had with my etsy shop, however, has nothing to do with school, and everything to do with technology, the evil thing that it is. My scanner, the most important of all of my tools, decided that it no longer wanted to scan my images. How EVIL!

So I have a back log of ideas that are on paper, and no way of getting them into the computer to edit, and use in my different creations. Frustrating.

However, I am using some of my work from the last few months to put up new listings, thus the set of mini magnets in a wide variety of different designs. So check them out!

Some Thoughts on School

I am taking three classes at Cascadia College this semester. Biology of the Human Body, English 102, and Environmental Sustainability.

The theme for my English class is food and ag, and basically the environmental sustainability of it all. The Enviro. course is also discussing this, and today in the Bio class we discussed water, its sustainability, availability... etc. etc.

Do we see a pattern here?

I have already been slowly shifting my ideas on food, consumer products, grocery stores and the like. In fact one of the things I loved about Seattle is that Pikes Market is just filled with natural products, small business and such.

Here is a simple fact: our economy is in flux. The big business model has one fatal flaw. It makes money by having fewer workers who do more work for less money, assembly lines, etc etc.

When you buy directly from the person who makes your item, handmade online or off, then you are giving business to that particular person. If you do so at, say, farmers markets or boutiques then you are cutting out all that oil based processing and transport (trucks, robots, assembly lines) and what you are getting truly has less of an environmental impact then what you would get at, say Walmart or QFC.

If you buy local products, or even semi local products, then your personal carbon footprint will be smaller, and you will vote with your dollars to tell big corporations to bring industry to your neck of the woods, not shipping it out, and shipping back the product, because frankly the shipping of things overseas is a HUGE waste of oil reserves, and another oil spill disaster waiting to happen.

And if you think about it so much can be done via the web now, transfer data from one country to another and produce the finished product in that country, cutting costs of transport, and being more environmentally conscious.

Anyway, that is my rant for the day.

Party!

Since my artwork is so apealing to little ones I thought it was time to do something bigger with them...

Thus the party pack came into motion. Little items to put in gift bags at birthday parties. Come to think of it, a teacher or anyone else working with children could use them as incentives, rewards and other things.

So, along the lines of children here is something I turned up in Etsy today that I'd really like to share.

One of the more interesting aspects of etsy are all the self publishers out there. Some indy, some how-to, patterns, and here... children's lit.

Here is The Boy Who Had Moldy Cheese Pizza Under His Bed by Rynski. Cute book, interesting title, sure to make kids giggle at the thought of it.

Etsy really makes it possible to do things you couldn't normally do, like showing your hand made books and selling them. Even with Lulu and amazon marketplace... Etsy lets you have real books made by hand be real people, and for children that is showing them something important even at a young age.

Another interesting aspect is that a lot of sellers will sell digital versions of their books for you to print yourself. No shipping, you don't have to print it so you can save trees. It really is the pioneer of e-book trading.

Marketing 101

I got this today:
"I wanted to invite you to stop by my Pixiekids facebook page.

You can keep tabs on new products that I design and make, as well as sale announcements and giveaways. I just did a hedgehog giveaway, and there is a link on my page to an eco-felt owl giveaway on a blog that I'm sponsoring :)"

So I thought I'd share it here. A good idea, actually, inviting people to your facebook page. Here is mine.

Of course the trouble with facebook, and all the other social media and advertising venues out there is that you really have to work at it, and I don't always follow through on that part. Working on it though.

By the way, Pixiekids makes the cutest felt food items great for little kids.

Mini Magnets

It's been a while since I've posted, but I've been putting together some new products, as you can see in the picture.

Several paintings and drawings later I decided that miniature magnets were a great way to go, not only the magnets but a great packaging to go with them. They are posted on my etsy, at least one set so far.

I've also been looking at all the promotional reading lately.

Honestly, it is giving me an idea that I will probably talk about later, but for now here is some great reading from the Etsy team that might just help you with your shop.

Etsy Success Reading List which has some articles about promotions through social media, and new years resolutions.